Because life is like that
by Melissa's bubbles
Summary: Lets all face it, Tony was a real player before Ziva. It's really a wonder that children haven't shown up before now. Now what happens when they finally do? Two of them. Tony will certainly need some help. TONY/ZIVA, small GIBBS/JENNY


**Hey guys! Welcome to my very first NCIS fanfiction. This is set after Ziva went to Somalia, but not long after. I am also ignoring Jenny's death compleatly.. I hope you like it. **

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Tony DiNozzo stood in confusion. He had gotten a call, at three in the morning, from Gibbs, telling him to get to the NCIS building ASAP. Apparently everyone else got a similar call because all of team Gibbs plus Jenny, Abby and Ducky stood in the office when Tony got there.

"What's up boss?" Tony asked, sleep still noticeable in his voice. After all, when someone wakes you up that early on a Sunday, your only weekend of the month off, it tended to make you sleepy. It was Jenny who answered

"About three hours ago there was a knock on my door and when I opened it two children stood there. There was a boy and a girl. The girl was leaning against the boy. I could tell that both were abused and starved. It is the middle of December and they had nothing on but a tattered tank top and some shorts. The boy begged me to feed his sister and to get her warm. I quickly brought them in and covered them up with an electric blanket and fed them some soup. The boy tried to give his bowl to his sister but I wouldn't let him. After they had eaten I asked them to explain how they had gotten to here, and this is where the story gets wild." Jenny paused.

"Well, what happened?" Gibbs urged.

"Well first I asked for their names and ages. They are twins. The boy is James Tyler Coles and the girl is Gabriella Marie Coles and they are both five. I then asked who their parents were. Their mother's name is Tammie Coles and last year she married a guy named Kevin Vanner, but Kevin apparently did not approve of the kids not being his. About a month after the marriage he became abusive to both the twins and Tammie. He starved them and beat them on a daily basis. Last week Tammie told them that she was going to be with Jesus and that they needed run away as fast as they could. I can only assume she committed suicide. Anyway, they did as they where told and ran away. They had been sleeping in the slide at the park by my house. The fallowed me home after seeing me at the park. The boy said 'you looked really nice so I thought that you was able to help my sissy.' In the blizzard, no one saw the poor things fallow me home." Jenny shook her head

"Those poor babies! They're only five!" Abby exclaimed.

"Yes, that is a very sad story, but why did you wake us all up at three in the morning to tell us? What made it so major that it could not wait a few hours?" Ziva asked.

"Well I asked them if they knew who their biological father was and they looked at me with blank faces so was I asked who their father was before Kevin and Gabriella goes 'Oh you mean Daddy!' and pulled off a locket with her father's picture in it. Apparently Tammie made sure they knew who their father was." Jenny pulled the locket out and opened it. The entire room gasped. They were all looking at the face of Tony DiNozzo.

"What!" Tony yelled and started shaking his head.

"N-no that's impossible! I would know if I had kids. No, just no, I, I just-" Tony trailed off. He stood there for about five minuets with his mouth just opining and closing before his face went completely blank.

"Are you sure they are mine Director?" Tony asked as calmly as possible.

"I wouldn't have called you here otherwise. I looked them up and your name is on their birth certificates." Jenny said.

"So what do I do now?" Tony asked.

"Well that depends, do you plan on taking them?" Jenny questioned.

"Well I'm not going to just leave them. They deserve better than that." Tony said firmly. Gibbs nodded in approval.

"Where are they?" Ducky asked.

"They're in my office at the moment. They are both in a desperate need for a bath and then I would suggest that they go to the hospital. I think James has a broken arm and Gabriella has cuts on her back." Jenny shook her head.

"I have nothing to put them in after the bath." Tony stated.

"I have got some pajamas at my house. I baby sit for my neighbor sometimes and they forgot their night clothes last time they where at my house. She has a four year old girl and a five year old boy. They might fit." Ziva offered.

"Ziva, go home and get the clothes. Tony, you know what to do." Gibbs ordered. Ziva nodded left. Tony took a deep breath and went to Jenny's office.

Tony's POV

When I opened the door the kids where asleep on the couch. James had one arm pressed up against his chest (I guess that was the one that might be broken) and the other around his sister protectively. They were so dirty that you couldn't even tell their hair color. Between the dried up blood and dirt, you couldn't really tell if they had on clothes or not. I really didn't want to wake them up. I really didn't have a choice. I was their father and they needed help. It was time to be a man. I gently walked over and started to stroke James's hair. He immediately woke up and flinched back, causing Gabriella to wake up.

"I'm sorry but I need t-" I said but was cut off by Gabriella's soft voice.

"You're my daddy." She said matter-of-factly, eyes wide. James had a similar expression.

"I am" I nodded. Both children smiled.

"It's ok Gabby, we're ok now. It's just like momma said. When we find daddy, we are safe, 'member?" James whispered to Gabriella. I smiled as they scooted to make room for me. I sat down on the couch and they immediately claimed onto my lap. I carefully noted how Gabriella winced every time she moved. My guess would be because her clothing was rubbing up against her cut.

"Listen, I'm going to give you a bath, is that ok?" I asked. Both kids immediately started to freak out.

"Please don't make us!" James yelled.

"Whoa Whoa Whoa guys, chill. Why don't you want to take a bath? You're both very dirty." I told them. James looked at me with a confused expression.

"Baths hurt. They're always really cold or really hot." Gabriella whispered. When I find the guy who did this, there would be hell to pay. Child abusers made me sick.

"I promise this one will be different." I told them. Gabriella thought a minuet before sticking out her pinky. I smiled wrapped my pinky around hers.

"Before I give you a bath, you're going to meet my team. They're super nice." I told them, getting up and offering them each a hand.

When we walked down the stairs I noticed that Gabriella was still wincing so I gently picked her up. As we got closer to my team James tightened his hand around mine. It looked like Ziva was already back.

"Ok, the woman with pigtails is Abby. The older man next to her is Gibbs. The woman with red hair is Jenny you already know her. ("She gave us food and made us warm!") The guy with the lab coat is Ducky. The woman with clothes in her hands is Ziva. The last guy is Tim." I told the twins. Everyone was really quiet, not wanting to scare or upset the kids. Suddenly Gabriella told me to put her down. She walked over to Abby.

"I like your pigtails." Gabriella smiled. Abby laughed and picked her up, careful not to touch her back.

"I'll tell you what, after your bath, I'll put your hair in pigtails. Have you ever had your hair up?" Abby asked.

"Nope. I've never had it cut nether. Momma said that guys like long hair so I didn't cut it 'cause I wanted Kevin to like me. I don't think it worked though." Gabriella said with a frown. I saw anger flash through Gibbs's eyes. James tugged on my shirt and motioned for me to lean in closer.

"All the girls here are real pretty." He whispered loud enough that everyone heard, causing everyone to smile.

"Yah, I know." I loudly whispered back. Everyone laughed.

"Come on, I will help you bathe them." Ziva said. Abby handed Gabriella to her and we made our way to the bathrooms. Thankfully they a bath tub for occasions like this. As the water filled the tub we began to undress them. We both quickly realized that we couldn't get the tank tops over their heads. James couldn't move his arm and Gabriella's cut made the shirt stick to her. I looked at Ziva, who glanced down to her shoe, which I knew held a knife. I nodded.

"Ziva won't cut you, ok? She is going to cut the straps on your tank tops so we can get them off. Stay still." I told them. James was able to hold fairly still but the moment Gabriella saw the knife she freaked. We tried to calm her down to no avail.

"This is not going to work." Ziva told me.

"Gabriella, please do this for daddy." I begged. She still shook and backed herself into a corner.

"Gabby, do you 'member what mommy told us about daddy?" James suddenly asked.

"Daddy is a good man and he will love and pr'tect us." Gabriella recited.

"And protect means he won't let us get hurt. Daddy won't hurt you." James told her.

"But Ziva has a knife." Gabriella cried. Ziva thought a moment before giving me the knife and getting down on her knees, in front of the young child.

"Do you want to see something?" Ziva asked. Gabriella nodded so Ziva took of her shirt. My breath caught in my throat. Scars covered her stomach and back. I knew they where there, of course. I was under no false pretenses about what happened to her in Somalia, but it was still shocking to see. Gabriella lifted her hand and traced one with her finger.

"Some bad guys hurt me too." Ziva whispered.

"Did you cry?" Gabriella asked. James had walked over and was looking at the scars too.

"Sometimes, but I was tough. We really need to get that shirt off of you so we can get you clean. I promise I will never hurt you like the bad guys hurt us. Can you be tough for your daddy and me?" Ziva asked. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

"Ok, I will." Gabriella said as she walked over to me and buried her head in my shirt.

"Do it" she said. Ziva quickly took the knife and cut the straps.

"I'm so proud of you sweetheart. You did great." I told her. When she reemerged from my shirt she had a hard look in her eyes that no child her age should have.

"He won't hurt me again." She whispered.

"No one will hurt you ever again." Both Ziva and I promised at the same time.

"Look Gabby, Ziva will protect us too. We'll be real safe now." James smiled as he hugged Gabriella.

We where then able to peel the shirts away. When they were finally undressed I thought I would be sick. Between the mud and blood it was hard to tell exactly what was wrong with them. I couldn't make out their skin color, let alone bruises.

We had to rinse the tub and refill it three times before the kids where finally clean. Once they where actually clean I was proud to say that I had beautiful children. There was, at least, no denying they were mine. They both had dark brown hair and green eyes. Gabriella's hair fell to the middle of her back in long spirals. James' hair went a little past his ears. Both of them had freckles all over their noses and cheeks. The only bad thing was that we could really see all the bruises now that the dirt and grime was gone. Their whole bodies were black and blue. Gabriella had a particularly nasty cut on her back. Her right arm seemed hurt as well. Ducky was able to patch up most of their cuts so that we could slip the pajamas on them.

Ziva decided to go with me as we took them to the hospital. It turns out that she had barrowed a couple of car seats from her neighbor so we were able to quickly buckle them up and get to the hospital. We were able to see the doctor fairly quickly and the twins were taken to get x-rays. The doctor told us that we didn't need to come and the twins started freaking out but they finally went after I promised no harm would come to them and that we would get some clothes and toys when we left.

"Zee, I don't know if I can do this." I whispered when we were alone.

"Well they are, as far as I can tell, very well behaved and they both obviously trust and adore you." Ziva reasoned.

"It's not them I'm worried about. What if I'm a bad parent? I have no idea how to care for them." I shook his head.

"It will not be easy Tony. You will have to give up a few things, like going out with a different woman every other date, but there will be plenty of upsides as well. You have someone to come home to now, a reason to leave work. You have someone to watch all those movies with." Ziva smiled.

"I watch movies with you." I pointed out.

"That is different." Ziva insisted. I was going to ask her how but the children chose that time to walk into the room. They both, of course, ran straight to us. I could tell they were both uncomfortable and just wanted to leave. They both, it seams, trust Ziva now, not that it was surprising.

"Daddy, when will we get to leave?" Gabriella asked.

"Soon Princess." I told her as I stroked her hair. The doctor looked at me.

"Well they obviously are covered in bruises. James' left arm is broken as is Gabriella's right, but Gabriella apparently has a high pain tolerance because she doesn't look like the arm is hurting her too badly. Then again, that nasty cut on her back might hurt so badly that she doesn't notice the arm as much. We need to cast those arms and stitch up that cut and then you can leave.

By the time the four left the hospital James had a green cast on his arm, Gabriella had a pink cast on her right arm, and, after a huge fight from James about a needle going anywhere near his sister, Gabriella's cut was stitched up. As promised, I took the children to the closest Wal-Mart. They both picked out five sets of clothes each and some night clothes. I also got each child a backpack that they could take with them wherever they went.

We found some small quilts. Gabriella chose a pretty light pink one with Pooh Bear on it. James chose a grass green quilt with dragonflies and frogs on it. Of course once we got the quilts, James found some Pillow Pets and decided that he wanted one, which caused Gabriella to want one. James chose the dog while Gabriella wanted the turtle.

When we got to the toy isle James went strait to the boy isle. He got three or four dinosaurs, six hot wheels, and five action figures. Gabriella chose a life sized baby doll, a teddy-bear, three Barbies, and a few baby doll outfits. They both got a couple coloring books and crayons and some picture books. Once we paid for the items we took them to the bathroom and changed them into some of their new clothes. James put on some overalls and a blue t-shirt under it. Gabriella put on a purple t-shirt and some jeans. We had to put them in short sleeves because the sweaters couldn't get over their casts. Once we got back to the car I called Gibbs.

"Hey boss, we're out of the hospital and we've got clothes and toys. What do I do now?" I asked.

"Well, it's about six in the morning. Normally, you would want to get them up about eight a.m. and put them to bed about eight p.m. Try to keep them up today so that they'll sleep tonight. It's very important you set them up on a schedule." Gibbs recited as if reading a book.

"Wow, um I still need bath stuff, food, and that kind of stuff." I sighed.

"I knew you would only get the very basics so I sent Abby to get the rest. Jenny offered to go with her. I would expect them at your apartment in about three hours. Right now just take them to a diner." Gibbs instructed.

"Thanks boss, erg... what will I do with them when I'm at work?" I asked.

"Enroll them in kindergarten. After school, they can come here. If we're not on a case they'll stay with us. If we are out, they can stay with Abby or Jenny." Gibbs suggested.

"Ok boss, I'll see you Monday." I said and hung up.

"I herd everything. Do you want to take me to my apartment?" Ziva asked.

"No, I want Ziva to stay. Please daddy?" James asked.

"Well that's up to Ziva. What do you say Zee-vah, you want to hang with us today?" I asked, hoping she would say yes. I wasn't sure if I could handle this alone yet. I could tell she was going to refuse, probably say something about imposing on our family time, but then she looked back at the kids and sighed.

"If you want me too." Ziva agreed. The kids cheered.

"Well I think you have your answer Miss Ziva." I laughed as we drove to find a place to eat.

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**Well there you have it. Reviews are the only way I know if i should continue. Please tell me what you liked, didn't like, and anything yiou want to see in this story.**

**lots of love,**

**mel**


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